Be More Chill

Be More Chill is a novel published on June 1, 2004 by American author Ned Vizzini.^[1] It features a fictional pill named the "squip". This story is set around 2010 to 2015, about 10 years in the future after the novel was published. In 2015, a musical adaptation, with a score by Joe Iconis ran at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey.^[2]

Plot

Be More Chill is written in the first person, from the perspective of high school student Jeremy Heere. Jeremy is considered a loser by his popular peers. This is prevalent because the popular girls have no interest in him, and he is frequently tormented by bullies. Jeremy's only real friend is his music loving friend Michael Mell. They always sit together at lunch, and often talk about Jeremy's attempts at wooing his long time crush, Christine. A major bully of Jeremy's is Rich, a short-statured, but well-built part of the popular teen group. Jeremy is tired of being a loser and hopes to find a way to change this. His main goal in life to get Christine to notice he is alive, and even hopefully eventually start dating. Christine loves anything to do with plays, which is how Jeremy plans to implement his ideas, as they both practice for the school play, Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." His advances are slow going at first.

During a rather uncomfortable encounter with Rich in the bathroom, Rich informs Jeremy that he really needs to become cool, and hints at something that could help, but leaves before he can explain it further. Jeremy digs deeper into this matter, asking Michael if he's ever heard of something like this before. Michael tells him that he thinks he's heard of some kind of technology called a "Squip," which can improve your life, but is very vague and glosses over the topic.

Rich finds Jeremy at the school's Halloween dance, and tells his about a piece of technology called a Squip. A "Squip" (Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor) is a super computer in the form of a pill that can communicate directly with your brain after being ingested with Mountain Dew. Jeremy decides to search for this "Squip". This pill is used to become cooler, and it comes in different voices such as Sean Connery, Keanu Reeves, etc. Jeremy purchases the pill in the back of a Payless Shoe Store, in hopes of transforming him from a klutzy loser to a member of the social elite and gaining the attention of Christine.

The pill does just that, as it instructs him on how to dress, act, talk, and all around carry himself through each day. He quickly gains the attention of Chloe and Katrina, two of the most popular girls in the school, as well as Brooke, who Jeremy skips class to make out with. Rich also stops bullying Jeremy, saying that it was his own Squip who was telling him to, as it would make him cooler in turn.

Jeremy also slowly gains the recognition of Christine, as he advances through the social ranks of Middle Borough High School. However, this does come with a price as he starts to neglect Michael, as his Squip tells him Michael is beyond his help as he is not as cool as Jeremy. Much later, it is at a house party that Michael and Jeremy go to, where things heat up. Jake cheats on Christine with Katrina while people watch and videotape it, prompting her to break up with him. Jeremy, aided by his Squip, takes advantage of this opportunity to further advance their growing relationship. Michael hooks up and starts dating a girl named Nicole. Christine catches a ride home with them. The next morning, Jeremy is woken up to news that Rich had burned down the house from the previous night and is in the hospital.

The Squip comes up with the ultimate foolproof plan to get Christine to fall for Jeremy during the school play. Halfway through the play, after Jeremy's character is "revived" by Christine's, the plan comes into play. He starts off by saying how rough of a time the school has had, and that it has inspired him to go after what he cares about. He then professes his love for Christine and asks her go out with him. Although staying in character, she is clearly angry at him for messing up the play, and they continue out the rest of the scene awkwardly. Jeremy tries asking his Squip for advice on what to do next and to continue helping him remember his lines, but it does not respond. The drama teacher and play director, Mr. Reyes, then kicks Jeremy out for breaking character, as it is a policy of his for any situation like this. Jeremy, extremely distraught, goes outside, where Michael comes and finds him. Jeremy confesses he got a Squip and that's what has been influencing him the past couple months. Michael reveals he knew what Squips really were the entire time, and told Jeremy a fake name, because he knew that Jeremy would want one if he knew. The Squip returns, telling Jeremy he is so sorry for what he's done, and to deactivate him, as he is apparently faulty, and to get the new model when it comes out if he wants. He says that Mountain Dew Code Red (Mountain Dew Red in the musical), will deactivate him. Before he does this though, they come up with the idea to do a "data dump", or recall everything in Jeremy's head since the time of him being into Christine, in hopes that she will understand his feelings and why he did what he did. It is assumed that this data dump was made into the Be More Chill book, it being the one Christine will read. However, this is not proven and is just speculation at this point.

Characters

• Jeremy Heere: The protagonist. In the beginning of the novel, Jeremy is bullied by the "cooler" kids at school. In an attempt to gain the affection of his long time crush, Christine, he purchases a Squip, a supercomputer that resides in a pill. He then quickly becomes one of the most popular teenagers at the school and has the attention of the most attractive girls. Jeremy acts for the most part like a normal teenager and is inherently a nice guy.

• Michael Mell: Jeremy's longtime best friend. He tells Jeremy a false name for the squip, knowing that Jeremy would want one. At the party, Michael gets a girlfriend named Nicole. He knows what the squip is all along without telling Jeremy, because of his brother, who is paranoid and delusional thanks to a defective squip he got to help him ace his SAT's. Has a love for music, as shown by the large headphones he's always wearing.

• Christine Canigula: Jeremy's love interest. Unlike most of the girls in the novel, Christine has a more intellectual personality and favors confidence and kindness over looks and social status. Christine is the only girl that Jeremy has a crush on, although he goes out with two others.

• Rich Goranski: Rich used to be a loser like Jeremy, but after getting a Squip, he became cool and popular. He is the one who first correctly tells him about the Squip in the bathroom at the school that they go to.

• Jake Dillinger: Christine's boyfriend at the beginning of the book, but when he hooks up in a room at the party with Katrina, Christine realizes she has to dump him.

• Chloe Valentine: Although Christine is Jeremy's love interest, Chloe is the main girl that Jeremy is involved with. After he gets the squip and acts differently around her, Chloe becomes attracted to Jeremy. She is best friends with Katrina and Stephanie.

• Brooke Lohst: As mentioned in Christine's bio, she is very 'sexually active.' She knew Jeremy for approximately 10 minutes and then invited him into her mother's car to engage in sexual intercourse.

• Jenna Rolan: Known as the school gossip, she sits near Jeremy in one of his classes, which is how he overhears so many bits of information about himself as well as Christine.

• The Squip: A supercomputer that resides in Jeremy's mind. It speaks to him telepathically with Keanu Reeves' voice, and gives him real-time social advice. It can be "very soothing" when it wants to, and is very persuasive when it is telling Jeremy to do something he doesn't want to do. Rich has one as well, but his is different from Jeremy's.

Musical adaptation

A musical based on the book had it's world premiere in June 2015 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where it received positive reviews. Praised as “a high-energy, imaginative, well-crafted world premiere musical” in The Star-Ledger, Be More Chill was lauded as “a vibrant, inventive musical that makes the most of every moment and features an abundantly talented cast^[3]” by BroadwayWorld.

Music and Lyrics by Joe Iconis

Book by Joe Tracz

Choreography by Chase Brock

Directed by Stephen Brackett.

The cast included:

Will Connolly as Jeremy Heere

Eric William Morris as The Squip

George Salazar as Michael Mell

Stephanie Hsu as Christine Canigula

Gerard Canonico as Rich

Katlyn Carlson as Chloe

Paul Whitty as Jeremy's Dad/Mr. Reyes/Scary Stockboy

Lauren Marcus as Brooke

Katie Ladner as Jenna Rolan

Jake Boyd as Jake

For more information, visit Two River Theatre's press release of the musical here

References

External links

• Ned Vizzini's Website